After the tragic Bhopal gas leak in December 1984, the Indian government mutely accepted a settlement offered by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).

NEW DELHI: Startling new documents show that weeks after the tragic Bhopal gas leak in December 1984, the Indian government mutely accepted a settlement offered by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). Among other things, UCC's offer outlined the quantum of compensation to be paid out to victims and how injuries were to be categorised and compensated.

In exchange , it wanted “extinguishment” of all claims against UCC, its Indian subsidary , Union Carbide India Limited, and its staff. The central government agreed. The first document contains minutes of a meeting held on February 28, 1985, between UCC vice-president and treasurer Rolf H Towe and UCIL managing director VP Gokhale.

The note was sent to the then chemicals and fertilisers secretary BB Singh. In the meeting, Towe broached the possibility of a negotiated settlement. The second document, dated March 4, 1985, contains the settlement proposal.

The proposal is based on the initial estimates of deaths that had been communicated to Parliament by the chemicals and fertilisers ministry in January 1985 — 1,408 dead and 10,700 injured.

However, says the letter, given the “existing uncertainity as to the actual number of dead and injured as well as the nature and severity of the injuries... the proposal contemplates ... the creation of a trust fund with adequate resources to compensate claimants with presently identifiable injuries and... a related trust fund to meet the expense of such facility and provide adequate compensation... for any injuries that may be identified at a later date.”

It also talks about the establishment of a medical clinic to monitor the health of victims. It made two other suggestions.

First, it suggested that injuries be categorised into four sections — injuries resulting in total disablement, permanently depriving the person of all capacity to work; injuries causing permanent partial disablement, not depriving the person of all capacity to work; injuries which required hospitalisation for a day or more, not resulting in any permanent disablemnt; and other injuries which required significant medical treatment.

Second, it suggested that the Railways Act be used to fix the amount to be paid for deaths and injuries. Which translated into Rs 1 lakh as compensation for each of the 1,408 people who were initially estimated to have died from the Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC) leak.

The company also offered another Rs 21.40 crore for the injured and proposed to set aside Rs 45 crore for the trust funds. The suggestions were problematic, partly because the physical and mental impacts of a gas leak are nowhere comparable to those caused by a train accident.

Despite that the company's offer suggests there would be people who would need no more than hospitalisation for a day, and not suffer any permanent disability. Most surprisingly, Towe’s letter to Singh says, “The proposal contemplates the payment of a pre-determined, fixed sum of money by UCIL and UCC to the Central government in return for a comprehensive release and extinguishment of all claims against UCIL, UCC and their affiliates, officers, directors and employees arising out of, or connected with, the Bhopal gas leak disaster.”

Incredibly, despite Towe’s offer saying “UCIL and UCC are also willing to consider any other fair and equitable principle of compensation which the central government may wish to propose,” there was no demand from the government.

Worse, it has since used the same classification of injuries in its 1987 petition to the courts, in its negotiated settlement with Carbide in 1989, and in the civil curative petition it filed in the Supreme Court in December 2010 for enhancement of compensation.

In reality, however, estimates by the Indian Council of Medical Research peg the number of dead at 22,917. The number of chronically-ill patients is estimated at around 150,000.

Bhopal mystery:

A Union Carbide letter to the chemical secretary proposed creation of a trust fund to compensate claimants and suggested four categories of the injured in the Bhopal gas disaster The company offered Rs 1 lakh each for the dead, Rs 21.40 cr for the injured and Rs 45 crore for the trust fund.

In return of the compensation, Union Carbide wanted “extinguishment” of all claims against it, its Indian subsidary and the staff The Centre used the same classification of injuries in its 1987 petition to the courts, in its negotiated settlement with Carbide in 1989, and in the civil curative petition it filed in the Supreme Court in December 2010 for enhancing compensation.